Question

Identify the ‘common gender noun’ used in the following sentence:
The doctor was running a physical check on the prince, amidst the crowd.
a. crowd
b. prince
c. doctor
d. none of these

Answer 1

Hint: Read the given sentence and decipher what it means. Point out the common nouns present in it and select the one which can be used to address anyone irrespective of their gender, that is, a gender-neutral noun.

Complete answer: Gender is defined as the classifying of a noun or pronoun as feminine, masculine, or neuter in gender. An example of gender is the word ‘man’ which is a masculine noun, and its feminine noun is ‘woman’.
There are pre-assigned genders in English, meaning that it is not subject to change. They
cannot be changed under any circumstances. However, there is a third gender in English
called ‘neuter gender’ which is assigned to inanimate objects that do not possess gender
or do not classify to be gendered. Some words are considered to have a common gender.
For example, the word ‘professor’ is used for both genders. This means that this word can
be used interchangeably for both genders.

Now, let us go through the options one by one:
a. crowd - The word ‘crowd’ refers to a ‘large group of people’. This word does not have gender as it is a collective noun. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
b. prince - The word ‘prince’ refers to a ‘male royal heir’. This word is specifically used for males which means that it is a masculine noun. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
c. doctor - The word ‘doctor’ refers to a ‘medical professional’. This word can be considered common for both genders. This is a common gender noun. This is the required answer. So, this is the correct option.
d. none of these - We already know that this is an incorrect option as we have found the correct answer from the above-given options. So, this is not the required answer.
Therefore, option c. is correct.

Note: In gender assigning, in English, the inanimate objects are considered as neuter
gender while the nouns that could be either feminine or masculine are called common gender nouns. The nouns in the given question have an assigned gender in the English
language. Make sure to double-check your answers.